Eleven killed in China school bus crash

BEIJING (Reuters) - Eleven people died, including eight children,
in a school bus crash in China's southern Hunan province, state
media said on Friday, the latest in a string of traffic accidents
that have fueled public anger over unsafe transport for school
children.

A bus taking kindergartners home on a rural, mountainous road
near Xiangtan city tumbled into a reservoir on Thursday
afternoon, state-run China News Service reported, killing
everyone on the vehicle, including two teachers and the driver.

China News Service said the narrow dirt road, flanked by a
mountain on one side, had no guardrail. All of the victims'
bodies were recovered, it said.

A series of accidents in recent years involving vehicles carrying
school children have made such incidents a sensitive issue in
China.

Eight children died in a bus crash on China's southern island
province of Hainan in April on their way to a school outing.

In 2011, a nationwide outcry erupted over the deaths of 18
nursery school children after a coal truck slammed into their
overcrowded school van in northwestern China.

The tragedy prompted then-premier Wen Jiabao to promise more
government funds to improve school bus services.

China's rural areas are known for providing unsafe transport for
children in aging vans and trucks, often on poorly maintained
roads.